BBRSDA Looks Into Potential Drift Permit Buyback

With the potential of boosting permit prices and earnings of
harvesters.

The Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association is
taking this first step in the wake of a 2013 survey to which 81 percent of the
Bristol Bay salmon drift gillnet permit holders who responded said they want to
know more about a potential buyback program.

Prompted by such interest, the BBRSDA contracted with
Northern Economics in Anchorage, which produced a report to assist the drift
gillnet fleet in determining whether to further explore a buyback plan for
their fishery.

Now BBRSDA plans to discuss the lengthy document with its
membership at a conference on Nov. 20, during Pacific Marine Expo in
Seattle.Panelists for the discussion
will include Matt Luck, BRSDA; Jonathan King, vice president and senior
economist for Northern Economics; Jeff Regnart, Alaska Department of Fish and
Game; Mike Sturtevant, National Marine Fisheries Service; and Bruce Twomley,
Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission.

Copies of “Possible Design and Economic Outcomes of a Permit
Buyback Program in the Bristol Bay Salmon Drift Gillnet Fishery” may be
downloaded online at

The BBRSDA notes that the report does not address
socio-economic information needed to fully evaluate the potential outcomes and
impacts of a buyback program in the Bristol Bay drift fishery.

Following membership review and analysis of this report,
BBRSDA will survey its members again, as to whether or not to proceed with a
socio-economic impact analysis of a potential buyback. Both analyses are
necessary to provide comprehensive information upon which to base a decision
regarding the pros and cons of a potential buyback, the BBRSDA noted in a
letter to members.

The report notes that while the purchase of fishing vessels
and/or permits under a buyback program is an effective approach to quickly
reduce fishing capacity to the desired level that buybacks are not a panacea
for solving overcapacity problems over the long term.

In particular, the report notes, buyback programs, by
themselves, do not address a root cause of excessive fishing capacity- the
race-for-fish.”In this situation, the
report said, each fisherman has an incentive to increase his or her fishing
capacity in order to catch fish before someone else does.

The study also looks at options for what may be purchased in
a buyback program, in terms of permits and vessels, and different economic
effects of purchasing active and inactive permits.

The study does recognize that a buyback will likely result
in increased profit needed to invest and improve quality while it may also
create an incentive for some permit holders to over-invest.

For further information contact Sue Aspelund, executive
director of the BBRSDA at sue@bbrsda.com or 1-360-927-4259.

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